


A Friendly Kidnapping

by flawedamythyst



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Accidental Dating, Clint Barton Flirts, Coffee Shops, M/M, Zoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-07 00:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11047494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flawedamythyst/pseuds/flawedamythyst
Summary: Clint runs into Bucky at his favourite coffee shop and decides he could do with a day out. Which would be great, if he could just stop flirting with the poor guy.





	A Friendly Kidnapping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [1electricpirate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/1electricpirate/gifts).



Tony had put a coffee shop in the lobby of the tower, a franchise from one of the really pretentious chains, but Clint never went there. Even if he could cope with the increasingly silly names they’d given what should just be straightforward coffee, the whole place tended to be full of swish-looking Stark Industries employees in fancy suits, and he stood out a mile in the old sweatpants and faded t-shirt that he tended to go running in.

Instead, he went to an independent place that was down an alley behind the tower, where the other customers didn’t make him feel like a slob, the menu didn’t go on for three pages and the staff all knew him so he didn’t really have to bother ordering.

“Black coffee,” said Hannah, handing him a cup, and he gave her a smile of thanks as he handed some money. As she took it, she lowered her voice and flicked her eyes over to the corner behind him. “Are you here for him? He’s been here over an hour.”

Clint glanced over his shoulder. Bucky was slumped at a table with his back to the corner and a cup in front of him that he was glaring down at as if trying to set it on fire with his mind.

“I wasn’t, but I can be,” said Clint, and took his coffee over to sink into the chair opposite Bucky.

Bucky gave him a hard-eyed look that Clint returned with a smile.

“Hey,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here. I figured Steve would have worked out how to surgically attach the two of you by now.”

Bucky made a face, then pushed his phone across the table so that Clint could see the screen. Seventeen texts and nine missed calls. As he watched, another text came in.

_Steve: Just let me know you’re okay._

“So, you made Captain America freak out,” he said. “Good going.” He raised his coffee as if in a toast and got another glare in response.

“He send you after me?”

“Nope,” said Clint. “I come in here most days after my run, so if you’re looking for somewhere to hide, you might have to go further afield next time.”

Bucky’s scowl aimed itself back at his coffee, which had to be mostly cold by now. “I’m not _hiding_ ,” he said. “Just, needed to get away from everyone watching me all the time. Even the building’s spying on me.”

Clint had some sympathy for him on that one. Steve had brought Bucky back to the Tower just over a month ago and he’d spent pretty much all the time since then holed up in Steve’s quarters or following Steve around the communal areas, looking lost. Clint had a feeling he had no idea what to do with himself now he wasn’t on the run anymore.

“JARVIS actually has very strict privacy protocols,” he said, “especially given that he was programmed by Tony. He doesn’t pass on anything you’re doing to anyone else unless there’s immediate danger.”

Bucky gave a one-shouldered shrug that said exactly how little he cared about that. “You gonna rat me out?”

“Nah,” said Clint. “I get needing to take a break from someone hovering over you the whole time.” Natasha had kept it up for a couple of weeks after the battle of New York, in the wake of losing Coulson and Clint being compromised. He’d appreciated it to start with, when he was struggling to come to terms with everything himself, but by the end of the second week he was starting to feel pretty claustrophobic.

“Don’t know why Steve thinks I can’t tie my damned boot laces without his help,” muttered Bucky, taking a sip of coffee and then making a face that said it probably was stone cold.

“Yeah, it’s almost like everyone he knew, or had ever met, along with his entire world, disappeared in one go,” said Clint. “And then it turned out that his closest friend wasn’t actually dead and he could get a part of all that back.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay, no need to lard it on. It’s not just that though, you know everyone’s just waiting for me to snap or something. Even you, you think I don’t see the looks you give me? You’re always just standing back and _watching_. I’m fucking sick of it.”

Ah, okay, yeah, maybe Clint had been doing a bit of that, but it hadn’t been because he was worried about Bucky snapping. It was because he was hot as hell and Clint sometimes got a bit mesmerised, or because he was trying to work out just how long you gave someone to recover from seventy years of brainwashing before you started hitting on them, or because he’d got stuck in a daydream that had got a bit NC-17 and was trying to work out if he could get away with nipping off for a quick wank or not.

Not that he was going to tell Bucky any of that, of course.

“Okay, you caught me,” he said. “I was counting your hidden weaponry. I used to do it with Natasha, but I know her too well, I can pretty much spot all her weapons now. You’re, like, the next level up.”

Bucky gave him a look that said he wasn’t fooled for a moment, but sat back and spread his arms. “Okay, so what am I packing right now?”

Clint looked him over for a long few moments. Most of that was checking for weapons, only a tiny bit of it was just checking the guy out. Well, okay, maybe about half of it. “Two guns and three, no, four knives.”

“Close,” said Bucky, hunching forward again. “You missed a knife, but it’s hidden behind my back so I think we can let it go.”

Clint made a face. “Next time I’ll get you to twirl,” he said, and got a very unamused look. He returned it with a grin. He wondered how many more scowls he could get out of Bucky before he was pissed off enough to go back to the tower.

Bucky’s phone took that moment to start flashing with an incoming call, and they both looked down at the screen at Steve’s name.

“You know, you’re gonna have to put him out of his misery sooner or later,” Clint said.

Bucky sighed. “Problem is, soon as I actually talk to him, I know he’ll convince me to go back, and I ain’t ready for that yet.”

Clint considered that, then pulled out his own phone and dialled. Bucky let out a defeated sound, shoulders slumping.

“Hey, Nat?” said Clint when she answered, and Bucky perked up again. “Do me a favour, tell Cap that I’ve got Bucky with me, he’s all fine, and we’ll be back a bit later.” He looked at the weary weight on Bucky’s face. “Maybe a lot later.”

“You’ve kidnapped Cap’s friend and you’re leaving it to me to break the news to him,” said Natasha. “I’m not sure this friendship is worth that, Hawkeye.”

“Aw, c’mon,” said Clint. “I didn’t kidnap him, anyway, he kidnapped himself.”

Bucky snorted as Natasha caved in with a heartfelt sigh.

“Fine, but you’re bringing me chocolate,” she said. “The good stuff.”

“Done,” said Clint, and hung up on her. He gave Bucky a grin. “I reckon you’ve got till about mid-afternoon before he starts freaking out again.”

Bucky smiled back for the first time and, wow, if Clint had thought he was hot when he was doing the darkly-brooding thing, that was nothing on how hot he was when he was smiling. “Awesome. So, what are we doing, then?”

Clint blinked. He hadn’t actually meant that he’d stay with Bucky all day, especially not if he was feeling like he was under surveillance, but he wasn’t about to look a gifthorse in the mouth. “I don’t know,” he said. “I mean, at some point I have to go buy Natasha some chocolate, that’s all I’ve got planned for today. What do you want to do?”

Bucky considered for a moment, then looked down at his coffee. “I want a new cup of coffee,” he said decisively, and stood up.

Well, okay. Small steps.

****

Clint persuaded him to get it to take out and they wandered up to Central Park, where Bucky mostly managed to hide his flinches every time someone came too close or shouted too loudly. They really should work on exposing him to this kinda thing more often so that he got used to being around normal people.

They ran into a few people walking their dogs, which was fucking awesome because it meant Clint got to pet their dogs. Bucky just stood back and watched with a sardonic expression that was clearly hiding how much he wanted to join in or, at least, that was how Clint interpreted it. Who the hell wouldn’t want to pet every dog they came across?

He bought them each a pretzel before Bucky’s impatience could run out and then they sat on a bench and ate them, watching the passers by.

“None of them are looking at us,” said Bucky, after a few minutes.

“Why would they be?”

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “You’re an internationally renowned superhero, and I’m at the top of a whole bunch of most-wanted lists.”

“No,” said Clint. “Hawkeye the Avenger, who wears purple combat gear and carries a bow, is an internationally renowned superhero, and the Winter Soldier, who wears black and carries about fifteen guns, is on a whole bunch of most-wanted lists. We’re just two guys hanging out in a park, one of them in sweatpants and one of them in a hoodie. Everyone knows that superheroes don’t wear sweatpants, come on.”

Bucky flicked his hair back and glanced around at the complete lack of interest in them. “Plus, there’s a hole in your t-shirt,” he noted.

Clint glanced down and scowled. “Aw, shirt, no.”

“Maybe I shoulda let you go back and get changed before you kidnapped me,” said Bucky.

“Depends if you’ve got any plans for today that have a black tie dress code, I guess,” said Clint.

“I don’t have any plans for today,” said Bucky. “Just getting out and about is a relief.”

Clint tipped his head back to let the sun shine on his face. “You better come up with something, because I pretty much tapped out with pretzels.”

Bucky was silent.

“Or, I could let you head off on your own and just hide from Cap until you’re ready to come back,” added Clint. “I actually don’t think you need someone watching you the whole time.”

“Nah,” said Bucky. “If I were much good at coming up with plans on my own, I wouldn’t have spent an hour sitting in that coffee shop.” He glanced around the park as if looking for inspiration. “Fuck it, let’s go to the zoo.”

Clint blinked with surprise. Okay, he hadn’t expected that but, okay. “I haven’t been to a zoo since…” He tried to think back, and then shook his head. “I can’t remember. I musta been tiny. I think the school took us.”

Bucky stood up. “Then we’ve got a plan, because I don’t think I’ve ever been.” He considered. “I mean, I’d have to ask Steve to be sure but there’s nothing coming to mind, and I really doubt Hydra sent me to any zoos.”

“I don’t know,” said Clint, standing up as well and following Bucky in the direction of the zoo. “I mean, think of the chaos if they’d killed off every penguin keeper in the northern hemisphere.”

Bucky sent him the kind of look that meant he was considering Clint’s sanity. Clint was very used to such looks. “I’m not sure you’ve really got a handle on Hydra’s methods.”

“You know,” said Clint, thoughtfully, “I think I’m okay with that.”

****

The zoo was more fun than Clint would have expected. Bucky’s perpetual cloud of gloom lightened up considerably in the face of sea lions and lemurs and Clint realised there were a bunch of animals that he’d seen on TV a lot but never actually in real life.

“Oh my god, look how awesome these fuckers are,” he said, crowding up close to the snow leopard enclosure.

Bucky snorted. “You really are just a sucker for anything cute and furry, aren’t you?”

“Yup,” said Clint, without taking his eyes off the animals. “Good thing for you.” He reached out and ruffled Bucky’s hair, and then realised what a mistake that was.

Whoops.

Bucky’s glare wasn’t quite as deadly as Clint would have figured, but he did duck away from Clint’s hand, which was fair. Clint really needed to remember that this wasn’t a date, this was a chance for the guy to get out and away from his over-protective best friend.

“I ain’t cute,” growled Bucky.

“Sure you are,” said Clint. “You’re adorable.”

Aw man, was he going to have to staple his mouth shut to stop himself flirting?

“I murdered a whole bunch of people,” Bucky pointed out, flatly.

Clint shrugged. “You think these guys aren’t deadly if you get on the wrong side of them?” The snow leopard sent him a flat glare, as if it knew what he was saying.

It kept happening. Clint found himself nudging his shoulder against Bucky’s at the penguin enclosure, hands knocking together as if to prove how easy it would be for him to take hold of Bucky’s. After they left the zoo and found a place for lunch, he told the story of how a monkey had stolen his arrows on a mission in Gibraltar, nudging Bucky’s foot with his to emphasise the best bits, and it was only afterwards that he realised he’d been essentially playing footsie with the poor guy. They went to get Natasha’s chocolate and Clint bought them both chocolate lollipops, mostly because he wanted one and it seemed rude not to grab one for Bucky at the same time. It was only when Bucky gave it a long, puzzled look that Clint realised that it was shaped like a heart.

Whoops.

Bucky ate it without comment though, just as he’d accepted the rest of Clint’s utter failures at keeping his crush under wraps. They walked back to the tower with Clint having to remind himself every few metres to keep more than a half inch of space between them, and by the time they were heading across the lobby to the elevator, he was pretty sure he needed to make sure they didn’t hang out together alone again until he’d got this shit under control.

They got in the elevator and Bucky leaned back against the back wall, crossing his arms, as JARVIS started to take them up.

“You know, it’s been a few years so correct me if I’m wrong, but it kinda seems like you’ve been flirting with me,” he said.

Clint deflated. “Aw man,” he said, rubbing a hand over the back of his head. “I am so sorry, I’ll put a lid on it, I swear.”

Bucky shrugged. “I don’t mind. Just, I was wondering if it was a specific-to-me thing, or if you woulda been flirting with pretty much anyone you were out with.”

Well, there was pretty much a perfect out, except Clint didn’t want to lie to the guy. “I’m not Tony, if that’s what you mean,” he said. “Just, I kinda got poor impulse control.”

“Okay,” said Bucky, slowly. “So, if I said I was more than okay with it, and I’ve kinda been hoping you’d end up kissing me, what would your poor impulse control do then?”

Clint managed nearly two seconds of staring at him before he dropped the bag of Natasha’s chocolate, stepped forward and pulled Bucky down into a kiss.

There was a bad split-second when Bucky tensed up and Clint remembered that lunging at the traumatised super-soldier might be a bad idea, then Bucky grabbed hold of his shoulders and kissed him back and oh, thank fuck.

Holy shit, the guy was a good kisser for someone who probably hadn’t had any practice since the forties.

Clint heard the doors ding open but ignored them, right up until he heard a familiar, amused throat being cleared.

“I’m guessing you had a good time then, Bucky.”

Clint pulled back with a start, glancing around at Steve with his heart thumping in his chest. Jesus, Captain America’s version of the shovel talk was probably terrifying. If he even got that far after the taking-advantage-of-the-mentally-unstable one, which was bound to be even worse.

“I still was until you interrupted it,” said Bucky, and pulled Clint’s head back around until he was focused on Bucky instead of Steve. He gave Clint a sly grin and kissed him again and, fuck it, Clint would happily be pulled apart by Captain America if it meant he got to do more of this.

Steve started laughing and Clint decided he was probably going to live, for now, but didn’t bother glancing over to check, not when he’d finally managed to get his hands in Bucky’s hair and Bucky’s arm had circled his waist and pulled him in closer.

He lost track of time a little bit, then Bucky back, gave him a satisfied grin, pressed another quick kiss to his lips, and finally pulled away.

“Thanks for a great day,” he said. “How about next time, I kidnap you?”

Clint blinked at him. “Yep, sounds good,” he nodded, which got him another grin before Bucky headed off in the direction of Steve’s room. Steve followed him, sending Clint an amused eyebrow raise that Clint just shrugged at.

He took a deep breath, took a moment to get himself back together, then picked Nat’s chocolate back up and went to find her. She’d definitely earned it.


End file.
